Supreme Court Levels the Tax Playing Field

NORFOLK – Now that online consumers will be subject to the same tax as shopping locally, will shopping trends change?

John Stedman owns Norfolk Natural Market and he is one of many business owners that could benefit from the ruling.

“I think it could end up raising a little bit of local market [traffic].”

With taxes online the same as the taxes in stores, the competitive edge online retailers had, is gone.

John spoke about some of the shoppers he thinks will return to brick and mortar retailers.

“Older shoppers that are experimenting with online shopping. If they see that there’s that little percentage not to be gained, I think they are more interested in their budget.”

The change will not only benefit local retailers; it also will result in a surge of new tax dollars for cities throughout the country.

Norfolk Finance Officer Randy Gates cannot say for sure how much money will come from the ruling, but he has a projected idea.

“It’s real hard to estimate what the impact of this will be, but I expect it will be somewhere around a $500,000 of additional sales tax annually, that the city will get that were are not getting now.”

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